In this commentary for Marketplace, Len Burman argues that the government's faith in free-market solutions to public policy issues is contradicted by its position against private testing of cattle for Mad Cow disease.

As well-designed decentralized intergovernmental system is key to developing country's ability to achieve its 2015 Millennium Development Goals. And, whereas fiscal decentralization has many facets, there is a necessary condition that must be satisfied for its success: local governments...

[Los Angeles Times] If you thought this year's tax bill was a burden, wait until you see your "share" of government spending in 2050. Tax Policy Center codirector Len Burman looks into the future according to CBO and sees a number of doomsday scenarios looming. Among them are a doubling...

Using dynamic scoring to weigh the effects of tax and spending proposals poses a high risk that ideological biases will pollute the analysis, senior fellow Rudolph Penner warns in a Ripon Forum commentary. The former director of the Congressional Budget Office also points out that...

Energy policy is an important subject these days, as Americans become increasingly aware of the costs of what President Bush has called "our addiction to oil" and the environmental costs of growing world consumption of fossil fuels. Although some foreign oil comes from friendly and politically...

What will work best to stimulate the nation out of recession? Look to the states, saysLen Burmanin a commentary for public radio's Marketplace program.

Los Angeles Times op-ed, July 8, 2009. In the immediate future, policymakers will face a delicate balancing act between encouraging economic recovery and establishing fiscal sustainability. Alan J. Auerbach and William G. Gale examine the economic challenges facing the U.S.

In a Washington Times op-ed, Len Burman explains why even this gloom-and-doom outlook is "wildly over-optimistic." The latest CBO budget outlook predicts a bleak scenario if we don't change our current policies.

Policymakers are considering modifications to the tax treatment of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) as a way to raise revenue to help pay for health reform and provide incentives to reduce health care costs. Understanding how current subsidies work is important to assessing health reform...

Like Rip Van Winkle, baby boomers have awoken to find that they have aged. Their retirement is looming, and now it seems that everyone is worried about saving for it. The popular press, with the assistance of the financial services industry, has made saving for retirement a trendy topic....